We3; A Hardcore Review

I finally just picked up Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly's We3. And it was worth the price of the deluxe edition hardcover graphic novel. Morrison's writing is as good as it's ever been in this tale of a government/military project to make animals into soldiers. Quietly's art style has never been better. And the extras show the massive amount of work that went into this insane project. Some people don't like the extras, the behind the scenes type stuff that artists and writers decide to add to the works. It's like a great movie on dvd or Bluray, with commentary and deleted scenes. We3 had everything you could want in an epic non-superhero story. This sci-fi story is up there with some of the greats, and has lurked its way onto my top five. Not an easy feat to accomplish.
Morrison is a sick sick man, with a penchant for writing some of the best fucking comics out there. Sure back in the early 2000's he supposedly retired after accusing the Waschowski brothers of stealing his idea for the Matrix. And even though, there were others who claimed the same thing, I am glad the Scottish scribe decided to come back to the table that fed him.
Quietly's artwork has always been amazing, but with this graphic novel, he pushes himself to the limits in his abilities. Quietly is a badass when it comes to rendering the emotions of the animals who are stolen from their homes and forced into a life of the service of a depraved military. Some, and reiterate, some of Quietly's humans look alike in their facial features. But the technology of the armor that We3 wear, and the animals themselves are amazingly rendered. When you look at the extras, Quietly worked himself to the utmost limits. The escape sequence, the cat fight sequence, and the CCTV pages were astounding. And with the extras you can see exactly how much time and work went into the project. I give Quietly the utmost kudos and mad props for his storytelling abilities. It is what all artists should aspire to.
It's interesting, since I recently reviewed Action Comics #1, where Morrison was accused of being anti-Christian when Supes uttered a gutteral moan that some moronic right wing, god fearing asshole called for a boycott. Morrison weaved a solid tale that is a super quick read, but with all of Quietly's quality linework and the amazing digital inks and colors make you want to take you sweet fucking time making your way through this book. I cannot stress enough, just how much I enjoyed We3. I am an animal lover, and I own three small dogs. So watching the military adaptation about these animals being experimented on was really tough on me. But hearing them talk to each other and the way they communicated in "text" speak was pretty hilarious.
The battle sequences were majestic in scope and Quietly does an amazing job with those sequences. His attention to detail is nothing short of top quality. This book is so fucking amazing that mere words cannot do it justice. You have to see and read it to believe it. So amazing in fact that it's notched its way into my top five favorite comic book stories of all time with the likes of Teenagers from Mars and Bone. That's pretty high praise fellas.
Morrison and Quietly are the perfect creative team. And in keeping with the tradition of great teams I am grading this with one with my favorite tag team of all time, ECW's The Eliminators. John Kronus and Perry Saturn took on all comers in their battles for the World Tag Team Titles. And they had some legendary matches. One of the most remembered matches took place in the vaunted ECW Arena where The Eliminators sought to take on the best in the world, when they fought the incomparable, and greatest American tag team ever to wrestle in Japan, Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy and "Doctor Death" Steve Williams. The match itself wasn't anything spectacular. It was a great match, with all four wrestlers putting out max effort, but it was the finale that put it over the top, and landed Saturn and Gordy in the hospital. For later that night, Tommy Dreamer would meet Brian Lee in the finale to their monster feud in a scaffold match.... Saturn, took the opportunity to use the scaffold to drop the monster elbow from the rafter of the ECW Arena. The elbow hit Gordy square and left both men needing paramedic assistance to get out of the ring.

Action Comics #1: A Hardcore Review

I haven't reviewed anything as of late, due to being busy with the Fuzzyface campaign. But I am back and will be dropping reviews at a better rate than I have been. I just read Action Comics yesterday right as the rain hit this much needed city. I didn't pick it up cause of hyper or cause It was a number one or part of the relaunch. I've actually never read all that many Superman comics, surprisingly. But there was a story leaked onto Bleeding Cool that had me interested. Apparently a comic book retailer in North Carolina, cause it's never a state where people outnumber rednecks, has begun a boycotting of all things written by Grant Morrison. His reasoning? During a battle scene with tanks, a young Superman lets out an onomonopia in the form of two letters, GD. Now, this clever man, I can only assume it was a man, cause I've never met a woman who was this quick to jump to a religious conclusion, is boycotting Grant Morrison cause in his words "this is a slap in the face to Christians everywhere." I dunno, I get hit in the stomach by a fucking tank and I'm gonna be letting out a lot more than a small sound that is to most people just a sound. I'll be cursing the fucking heavens and blasting god for allowing people like this to exist. Now let me be clear, I am an Atheist. Why? Cause shit like this is fucking stupid. You don't see Atheists calling for boycotts of stuff that merely mentions belief or some sort of deity. There are those of us who won't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, or for school prayer because of the mention of god being involved. Not Christians, and it only seems to be Christians, never Jews, or Muslims or even Buddhists seem to give a shit about someone not wanting to stand. Cause it's a choice. Religion has been used to intimidate and obliterate people from the face of the Earth for a belief. Not concrete proof, but belief. That just seems more ignorant that spiritual to me, and I'M AN ATHEIST!
So anyway, back to the comic at large. This was my first issue of any of the new 52 from DC Comics. And I have to say it did not disappoint. Grant Morrison wrote a fantastic first tale of young big blue, who with Rags Morales doing the art looks like he's young enough to be a freshman in college. This book was put together from front to back cover and I can honestly say that reading Action #1 I have not been this excited for comics since my characters Nash and Kyle appeared in the pages of Jimmie Robinson's Bomb Queen a few years ago. I have loaded my pull list with various new DC stuff, including Deathstroke, cause he's fucking Deathstroke, Red Lanterns, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Batman and Robin and Nightwing. Based on the creative teams working on the titles. But mostly the writing. As visual as I am, it's the writing that is getting my goat lately. I want to learn to be a better writer, so why not read the best in the industry right now, and right now, they're all at DC headquarters.
This book kicked all kinds of ass, and if it pissed off some right wing religious nazi at the same time, even better. Cause you're in the wrong business pal. If you wanted to see oppression and not let people have free speech, go to Capitol Hill for the next year. I'm not a big fan of retconning stuff. I mean if you don't want to use a part of a character's history, just don't. But to redo the entire thing just to start clean seems kind of strange. I mean we as people don't get to do that, even though a lot of us would like to. Keep the flaws. The bad stories, the cheesey gimmicks, the universe changing crossovers. That's what makes these characters a bit more able to be related to. Even though, the current story idea have them set at new beginnings where they are younger, going to make more mistakes and a bit more human. I am super excited to have read my first Supes comic in years. It made all sorts of sense and even reintroduced a Lex Luthor, who's reasons for wanting to destroy Superman in the past never surfaced in my mind, but lets it be known that this could be the undoing of the human species if Supes is let to roam free. And IT MADE SENSE! Also look for a younger Jimmie Olsen and a twenty something Lois Lane, who has always been my idea of a strong woman who gets the job done.
Action Comics #1 will, like every other project being reviewed be graded on hardcore moments in wrestling history. This harkens back to Wrestlemania 18. Icon versus Icon. Hogan versus the Rock. And this was an extremely amazing match. Hogan had a great match, probably cause he was partnered up with the Rock who is one of the best ever. But this match drained the crowd and had multiple match stopping chants of "Rocky" and "Hogan." It was everything you want from a dream match. And it worked on so many levels. Now, I'm not a fan of giving Hogan any kind of credit when it comes to memorable moments in wrestling history, but this match delivered. Finishing with a huge People's Elbow, Rock took out the legend and then showed respect to Hogan and the fans by letting the old man pose a few more times. Even I got chills, and I fucking hate Hogan.

Batman & Robin #1; A Hardcore Review

I am going to remind everyone who reads these reviews that the grading system I use is this: instead of thumbs up or stars, I rate on hardcore moments in pro wrestling history. The more hardcore the event, match, promo or moment the more I liked the book, comic, movie or video game I am reviewing. The less hardcore the moment, the more I disliked it. An example would be anything related to Hulk Hogan would be highly NOT recommended. Onto the review...
I saw it on the shelves in Atomic Comics last week as I visited the Phoenix shop to drop off some of my swag to be sold there, but that's another blog.
I picked it up and bought it as it pertains to the new battle for the cowl that Batman left when he vanished during Final Crisis some months ago. I just now read it and here's what I thinks...
I first thought that Grant Morrison was not a good pick for a Batman book, and that Frank Quietly would not do this character justice. AND... I was fucking wrong. This book begins the adventure of Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian as Robin. This book starts out with an amazing panel of tunnel vision by Quietly. It is truly a sight to behold. This is a new era for Batman and DC Comics, which in my estimation and humble opinion are the front runners now. Marvel has been left behind. Where once they had superior characters and artists, DC now stands taller.
C'mon guys, your running a scam of Dark Reign now for like ten months. What the fuck. People don't have the attention spans they once did. They need their fix quick. Comics are that. You get your fix in what? fifteen minutes. That's the time gap you have to work with. Anything that's gonna make me have to wait over a year to finish is way to fucking long.
So DC launched the battle for the cowl and now Dick Grayson is finally, and again, Batman.
The art was superb. Although not a clean enough line style for my liking, but that's Frank's gift. that's what he brings. That's his style, take it or leave it. The colors were spot on. And colorists don't get enough credit either. Alex Sinclair did a fantastic job of seperating Batman's darkness from Robin's light, and the colors of the rogues were a nice touch too. And I give credit where it's due to Mr. Morrison. The man who once quit the business because he claimed the Waschowski Borthers stole his idea and turned it into The Matrix has come back, and he is fit to battle for the cowl too.
For me the ultimate measuring stick for Batman is always going to be The Dark Knight Returns. And this is just one issue speaking, but it's damn good. And it's gonna make a run for it. The dialog alone is amazing as Dick talks to Alfred, and Batman talks to Robin. It's truly good shit.
This has to rank in line with Steve Austin. Not the Stone Cold Rattlesnake you know. This is Austin's "That's not for you baby," promo from ECW. This is one of the best promos he has ever done. And one of the best wrestling promos EVER! That's high praise for Quietly and Morrison. Don't disappoint us boys.